ICC Court adopts new scale of costs for arbitration cases

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has approved amendments to the scale of costs applicable in ICC arbitrations. This initiative comes six years after the scales were last amended.

The new scale of costs will become effective on 1 January 2017 and will apply to all ICC arbitrations commencing on or after that date.

ICC’s administrative expenses and arbitrator fees are fixed according to the applicable scale of costs based on the monetary value of the claims. This system offers predictability for the parties, who can estimate the range of costs as soon as the value of the claims is known. Where necessary, the ICC Court has discretion to fix the costs at an amount higher or lower than that which is generated by the costs scales.

Among other changes, the new scale provides for an increase of the non-refundable filing fee from US$3,000 to US$5,000 and an increase of the maximum allowable administrative expenses from US$113,215 to US$150,000 in cases where the amount in dispute exceeds US$500 million.

ICC has also approved the adoption of a separate scale of costs for the newly-introduced ICC Expedited Procedure provisions . This separate scale will become effective on 1 March 2017 and will be used to calculate advances on costs in all arbitrations where the ICC Expedited Procedure provisions apply.

The scale of costs applicable in ICC Expedited Procedures provides for a range of arbitrator fees which is on average lower than the one under the amended scales for ICC arbitrations. The scales are reflected in Appendix III to the ICC Arbitration Rules .

In addition, the online ICC cost calculator will be updated as of 1 January 2017 to allow parties to forecast estimates of the likely costs of ICC arbitrations and arbitrations under the ICC Expedited Procedure provisions.